Climate Change and Meat Consumption — Eat Vegan

The UN’s top climate scientist, chairperson of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Dr. Rajendra Pachauri, is suggesting that people should consider eating less meat as a way of combating global warming. The IPCC collates and evaluates climate data for the world’s governments.

UN figures suggest that meat production puts more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere than transport.

“The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has estimated that direct emissions from meat production account for about 18% of the world’s total greenhouse gas emissions,” he told BBC News.

“So I want to highlight the fact that among options for mitigating climate change, changing diets is something one should consider.”
Source: BBC News

According to the UN Food and Agricultural Organization, total global meat production contributes 18% of greenhouse gasses, while total global transportation contributes only 13% of greenhouse gasses. The largest source globally of carbon dioxide from meat production is land clearance, particularly of tropical forest.

According to Dr. Pachuri, people should have one meat-free day a week if they want to make a personal and effective sacrifice that would help tackle climate change, and should then go on to reduce their meat consumption even further. — Source The Guardian

Meat eating is expected to double by mid-century. This is such an easy and important step for us all to take. It’s something Jane and I strongly believe in and have blogged about a number of times (see More Reasons Not to Eat Meat and Vegan Eating Trumps Eating Locally). I’m assuming most of the people who are reading this blog are vegans or are interested in veganism. But this is a message we can bring to our omivorous friends and family. Imagine the impact to the enviroment and the animals if everyone ate vegan just one day a week.